Figaro Nau rests on a stretcher in the Cholera Treatment Center in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. At least 30,000 people have died from the outbreak, latest studies show. Photograph: Andres Martinez Casares/Reuters The United Nations is showing the first signs of compromise over the Haiti cholera epidemic, after more than five years in which it has consistently refused to accept responsibility for a disaster that has claimed tens of thousands of lives. Groups working with Haitian victims have greeted the apparent shift in the UN’s position as a potential breakthrough in a crisis that has devastated one of the poorest countries in…

Democrats are offering a piece of straightforward advice for Hillary Clinton as Donald Trumpthreatens to dig up scandals from the 1990s: Ignore him. Clinton’s supporters shrug off concerns that the Trump attacks could stick. They say most voters will see Trump as dredging up rumors as part of an anything-goes strategy to win the White House. And they think it will backfire on the presumptive GOP nominee, especially if Clinton responds with arguments about how she wants to solve the nation’s problems. “You hear one presidential candidate talking about something 30 years ago, blaming her for his actions and blaming…

Brazil’s suspended House speaker, Eduardo Cunha, defended himself before an ethics committee on Thursday, a day after the appointment of his ally as leader of the government coalition in the chamber showed the veteran lawmaker’s enduring political sway. The Supreme Court indefinitely suspended Eduardo Cunha this month on charges of obstructing a corruption investigation, just weeks after he orchestrated the approval of impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff in the lower house. The Senate voted last week to suspend Rousseff and put her on trial for breaking budget rules. Yet Cunha’s continued support from an array of minor parties and…

The oldest known person in the world has died in New York aged 116. Born on an Alabama farm in July 1899, Susannah Mushatt Jones was also the last living American born in the 19th Century. She lived in three centuries, through two world wars and 20 US presidencies. An Italian woman, Emma Morano, now takes on the title of oldest person in the world, and is thought to be the last living person to have been born in the 1890s. Ms Jones was one of 11 children. Her grandparents were slaves, her parents crop pickers. She attended a special…

In their joint statement last month, the chairman and vice-chairman of the commission suggested they agreed that there might be danger in releasing the full 28 pages of the congressional report. Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images A former Republican member of the 9/11 commission, breaking dramatically with the commission’s leaders, said Wednesday he believes there was clear evidence that Saudi government employees were part of a support network for the 9/11 hijackers and that the Obama administration should move quickly to declassify a long-secret congressional report on Saudi ties to the 2001 terrorist attack. The comments by John F Lehman, an…

Senate races in three battleground states — Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania — are nearly deadlocked, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday. In Ohio, incumbent Sen. Rob Portman (R) has 42 percent support, trailing Democratic opponent Ted Strickland, who has 43 percent. The poll sampled 1,042 Ohio voters and has a margin of error of 3 points. In Pennsylvania, Sen. Pat Toomey (R) has a 1-point edge over Democrat Katie McGinty, 45 percent to 44 percent. The poll sampled 1,077 Pennsylvania voters and has a margin of error of three points. In Florida, Rep. Patrick Murphy (D) leads all…

Sixteen black West Point cadets who posed with raised fists for a pre-graduation picture will not be punished for the gesture. The US Military Academy said on Tuesday it concluded the group photo did not violate any Department of Defense rules limiting political activity. West Point said in a statement an internal inquiry found the picture of the 16 female cadets captured a spur-of-the-moment gesture intended to demonstrate unity and pride. The seniors will graduate on 21 May. Some observers outside the academy had suggested the cadets violated the military policy by posing with clenched fists held head high. A…